Hat Man by Ringo Starr is the Daily Pic by Blake Gopnik
The Daily Pic: The famous drummer's art is so trite, it's cutting edge
Ringo Starr's "Hat Man", from 2005 (Courtesy Pop International Galleries)
Yes, today's Daily Pic may not seem worth picking. It's a crude, banal face casually tossed off on a computer by Ringo Starr, and on view now in the Beatle's second show at Pop International gallery in New York. But, as I argued in yesterday's Daily Beast, its very triviality could make it matter as art. Ringo sells such works to benefit his Lotus Foundation, which funds good deeds around the globe. So Ringo's "art" may not be in the actual objects he makes; it may lie in how easily they sell, and how cannily they take advantage of his stardom to make a difference in the world. If that's right, he's got a full-blown "social practice", and so counts as cutting edge.
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